Change Healthcare, Google aim to create faster imaging tech

US health technology firm Change Healthcare is to work with Google Cloud to combine artificial intelligence with the latest imaging techniques to improve performance of equipment used in radiology.

The announcement comes as NVIDIA announced a similar tie up, also at the Radiological Society of North America meeting.

Tennessee-based Change Healthcare said it aims to combine its expertise in healthcare imaging with Google Cloud’s experience in artificial intelligence, analytics and infrastructure.

The idea is to connect healthcare teams, providing data using more cost-effective products, using Google’s “G Suite” of products such as gmail and google docs to improve communication.

Underpinning the project will be a cloud-based imaging data infrastructure that could be potentially more cost-effective and reliable than competitors.

Erkan Akyuz, executive vice president and president for Imaging, Workflow & Care Solutions, Change Healthcare, said: “Change Healthcare is positioned to transform the value that imaging brings to healthcare providers. By working with Google Cloud in this strategic collaboration, we are poised to accelerate that transformation.”

Google Cloud’s Gregory Moore

Gregory Moore vice president, Healthcare, Google Cloud, said: “Change Healthcare is a well-established leader in healthcare innovations, and we are excited by the opportunity that this strategic relationship offers to the industry.”

“We look forward to working with Change Healthcare to help them serve their customers, which include some of the largest and most complex healthcare providers.”

At the same conference GE Healthcare and NVIDIA announced they are also to combine AI with imaging devices to produce faster devices such as CT scanners and ultrasound devices.

Using NVIDIA’s AI computing platform the companies have already produced a CT system that is twice as fast at processing images than its predecessor.

NVIDIA also said its graphics cards will accelerate reconstruction and visualisation of blood flow in GE’s Vivid E95 4d Ultrasound System.

And a new GE analytics platform will use NVIDIA graphics cards to accelerate the creation, deployment and consumption of deep learning algorithms to create faster and more efficient healthcare analytic applications.